“When are you going to learn that you can’t scare me off?”
His shock quickly morphed into a smug, crazed satisfaction. He descended upon me, framing my face with his arms. “It’s like you were fucking made for me.”
Then his mouth was on mine, his tongue pressing against my teeth, and I opened for him willingly. The coppery taste twisted with his saliva in a tantalizing, delectable way. With one smooth thrust, he was buried deep inside me, his size threatening to split me in two.
I screamed a moan that he swallowed. He set a punishing pace, making it impossible to focus on anything but the feeling of him within me. My nails dug mercilessly into his shoulders, drawing blood. He moaned at the pain but didn’t relent. This was nothing like before.This was a primal, psychotic obsession we both shared.
He released my lips, sliding his tongue up my cheek. A soft hum reverberated through him, sending goosebumps racing across my skin. Then his fangs sank into that sweet spot on my neck, and I saw stars. My legs curled around him like a vise, the sounds leaving my lips hardly even human.
“Fuck, doll, you taste so good,” he moaned, the words hot against my neck.
He pulled me tighter, and I squirmed against him. I was close—he must have known it, too, driven by some primal connection I didn’t fully understand. Nothing mattered but the feeling of him inside me, this perfect angel of sin dragging me to the depths with him. I wanted him to slip into that darkness with me.
I brushed my lips over the shell of his ear. “I’m going to come on your cock covered in your blood, baby. Don’t stop.”
“Holy fuck, Estrella,” he moaned through gritted teeth. His nails dug into my back as he slammed into me viciously.
I bit down on his neck to stifle my scream, my nails clawing at his arms as if they could anchor me to the shred of sanity I had left. They didn’t. We fell into bliss, our moans blending together as he filled me.
I was shaking, my body slick with sweat and blood. I let out a long breath, and he laughed. “Oh, babydoll, we aren’t done. Not even close.”
He worked his way down my front until his mouth was between my legs. The tenderness of the kiss he placed at my center sent my mind spinning. His tongue flicked across my sore clit, agonizingly slow, then dragged over my center. “Now it’s your turn to beg, Your Highness.”
Chapter 52
ESTRELLA
The woman in the mirror was not one I recognized. Not in this regal baby blue dress adorned with lace stars that danced across the skirt and a beaded bodice that shimmered under the light. Especially not with the star-studded tiara perched atop my head. Roman had purchased both for me, knowing I wouldn’t have the time to create my own amidst the chaos. This was the outfit meant to introduce me to the world—not as Estrella the acolyte, but as Estrella the Tsarina.
I brushed my fingers over my exposed neck. Sorin had tattooed over my scar—not to hide it, but to draw attention to it. Inside the ragged circle now blossomed a tiny galaxy, with two stars strategically placed at Roman’s bite mark. He was my night, and I was his moon and stars, permanently inked on my skin.
But that wasn’t the only tattoo Sorin had given me. I twisted in the mirror to admire the pair of wings now etched over my shoulder blades, trailing down the backs of my arms. When I lifted my arms, it was as though I were raising my wings to fly—a permanent mark of the freedom my family had gifted me. I wore my Koraki mark proudly; I was no longer an object owned by the House but a proud member.
Roman approached from behind, his hands resting on my hipsas he pressed his lips to my neck. He had undergone a minor revision to his chest tattoo—a horrifying process I never wanted to witness again, where Sorin sliced away pieces of skin for a fresh inking. Now, little stars danced through the wings of his raven, glimmering like diamonds up his shoulders and collarbone. “Because you’re the wind in my wings,”he had told me. A violent yet beautiful representation of our love, which felt fitting.
“You look delicious, Your Highness,” he purred.
“I do, don’t I?” My hands glided over the gown, the fabric remarkable and glimmering softly in the light—a far cry from the cheap red dress I had worn when we first met.
I turned to face him. “You look good yourself, Your Majesty.”
He did. Dressed in a monochrome black suit, he matched the rest of the house. When I had asked if I should wear black as well, his response had been simple:absolutely not.That had settled that. He, however, looked striking in all black, especially with the iron crown resting on his head.
“I know,” he replied, a smug grin playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Always so arrogant.”
He smirked. “You love it.”
“I do.” I fiddled with the hem of his suit jacket. “Are we really doing this?”
He kissed my jawline. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific. Right now, all I can think about is doing you.”
“We’re about to announce to a room full of vampires that their new ruler is a human acolyte.”
I felt his lips curl into a grin against my jaw. “We are. Should be fun.”
I pushed his distracting mouth away. “I’m serious.They’ll want to kill me.”
